Impact of Breed on the Fecal Microbiome of Dogs under the Same Dietary Condition

Abstract

The gut microbiome influences the health and well-being of dogs. However, little is known about the impact of breed on the fecal microbiome composition in dogs. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the differences in the fecal microbiome in three breeds of dog fed and housed under the same conditions, namely eight Maltese (8.0 ± 0.1 years), eight Miniature Schnauzer (8.0 ± 0.0 years), and nine Poodle dogs (8.0 ± 0.0 years). Fresh fecal samples were collected from the dogs and used to extract metagenomic DNA. The composition of the fecal microbiome was evaluated by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing on the MiSeq platform. A total of 840,501 sequences were obtained from the 25 fecal samples and classified as Firmicutes (32.3-97.3% of the total sequences), Bacteroidetes (0.1-62.6%), Actinobacteria (0.2-14.7%), Fusobacteria (0.0-5.7%), and Proteobacteria (0.0-5.1%). The relative abundance of Firmicutes was significantly lower in the Maltese dog breed than that in the other two breeds, while that of Fusobacteria was significantly higher in the Maltese than in the Miniature Schnauzer breed. At the genus level, the relative abundance of Streptococcus, Fusobacterium, Turicibacter, Succinivibrio, and Anaerobiospirillum differed significantly among the three dog breeds. These genera had no correlation with age, diet, sex, body weight, vaccination history, or parasite protection history. Within a breed, some of these genera had a correlation with at least one blood chemistry value. This study indicates that the composition of the fecal microbiome in dogs is affected by breed.

Sex Differences in Intestinal Microbial Composition and Function of Hainan Special Wild Boar

“…In addition, Christensenellaceae_R-7_group can promote intestinal development and barrier function, thus improving the growth performance of pigs [40]. Streptococcus plays an important role in the health of skin and mucus membranes of animals, and previous studies have shown that Streptococcus can improve immune function [41]. The abundance of Streptococcus in entire male pigs was higher, which may be the reason the functional abundance of immune diseases in males is higher than that in females.…”

Evaluation of the microbiome composition in particulate matter inside and outside of pig houses

“…Bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicons including the V3-V4 hypervariable region were produced using primers 341F (5′-CCTACGGGNGGCWGCAG-3´) and 805R (5′-GAC TACHVGGGTATCTAATCC-3´) and were then subjected to high-throughput sequencing on an Illumina MiSeq platform (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA) as described previously [ 20 ]. The resulting sequences were assembled using FLASH software [ 21 ], and microbiome analysis was conducted using the QIIME 1.9.1 software package [ 22 ] as described previously [ 23 , 24 ].…”

Interplay between Neuroendocrine Biomarkers and Gut Microbiota in Dogs Supplemented with Grape Proanthocyanidins: Results of Dietary Intervention Study

“…However, these results must be considered with caution since the taxa significantly different for the D1 did not correspond to those found for the D3 group or, in any case, no dose response effect was observed. Moreover, in Figure 3, the individual relative abundances of 2 significant taxa at T0, T14, and T28 indicated a high variability, which can be attributed to age, sex, breed, and other factors related to the environment, as already highlighted by previous research [45,46]. Nonetheless, the influence exerted by the genetics of the host, reported in humans [47] and livestock [48], should also considered among the factors affecting the gut microbiota.…”